Cerean Wedding Traditions

Every culture in the world has some sort of ceremony surrounding bringing two people together and the Cereans are no different, with their own range of wedding traditions.

First off, how do the Cereans meet their match?

Family means everything in Cerea, where small farm holds and settlements mean the family you live with are often the only people you see on a regular day-to-day basis.

Rifts, arguments and disagreements cannot stand for long as discontent sowed in the household starts to affect the livelihood of everyone.

Families are often large, with gatherings revolving around good food and drink, helping out neighbours and mixing up practical requirements with enjoying the fruits of their labours. You can find out more about the World Building of Cerea here.

It is not unusual for parents to have a hand in their children’s future happiness by helping to choose a bride or groom. Most often this extends to personal happiness for their progeny by choosing temperament matches, but also lends itself a pragmatic approach by combining nearby farm steads and growing the community through relationships.

Now they are paired up, what happens on the wedding day?

There isn’t a wedding day per se, more of a four day wedding festival. This ties in with the Cerean belief system. The Cereans use a god-wheel to tie all the divinities of Pangaea together in much the same way that earth, air, water and fire (the sun) is required to successfully grow plants. So while Demeter is their primary goddess, they also pay reverence to Persephone, Zeus and Hades.

Each day revolves around a ceremony performed specifically for one of the gods; Persephone’s ceremony takes place at dawn the first day, Zeus’s at midday the second, Demeter’s at dusk the third and Hades’ at midnight on the fourth day. Guests can attend the ceremony and then work during the day as needed, before coming together for a communal meal.

The whole nearby community comes together to celebrate for the duration of the festivities and the bride’s family provides a feast of delicious food, while the groom’s family brings enough drinks to keep everyone happy.

What do they wear for all these wedding traditions?

Outfits have huge symbolic significance in ceremonies and the Cerean wedding is no different. For the first two days, the bride wears soft blue to show her devotion to Persephone the water goddess and her innocence. The couple are allowed to stay the night together on the evening of Zeus / second day, as Zeus has now ritually handed his ‘daughter’ to her groom.

For the third day, the bride returns to her mother, mirroring Persephone’s return from the Underworld after her marriage. She is clothed in red to show her fertility and then returned to her husband on Hades’ day, the fourth and last of the festival.

Do you like any of the wedding traditions described? Were any of them unexpected? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @EchoFoxBooks – I’d love to hear from you!